U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,742 entitled "Circuit Breaker Having Improved Operating Mechanism" describes a circuit breaker capable of interrupting several thousand amperes of circuit current at several hundred volts potential. As described therein, the operating mechanism is in the form of a pair of powerful operating springs that are restrained from separating the circuit breaker contacts by means of a latching system. Once the operating mechanism has responded to separate the contacts, the operating springs must be recharged to supply sufficient motive force to the movable contact arms that carry the contacts.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/202,140, filed Feb. 25, 1994 entitled "Operating Mechanism for High Ampere-Related Circuit Breaker", which Application is incorporated herein for purposes of reference describes an operating mechanism capable of immediately resetting the circuit breaker operating mechanism to reclose the contacts without having to recharge the circuit breaker operating springs immediately after opening the circuit breaker contacts.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/203,062, filed Feb. 28, 1994 entitled "Rating Module Unit for High Ampere-Rated Circuit Breaker", which Application is incorporated herein for purposes of referenced describes a circuit breaker closing spring modular unit whereby the circuit breaker operating springs are contained within a separate unit from the operating mechanism and can be installed within the circuit breaker enclosure without disturbing the operating mechanism assembly.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a latching arrangement capable of retaining the circuit breaker operating springs from separating the circuit breaker contacts during quiescent current conditions while insuring release of the operating springs upon the occurrence of an overcurrent condition.